1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector having a retainer.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a prior art, there is known an example of a connector having a retainer moving skewedly to a direction of inserting a terminal metal piece as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,865,653. According to the example, the retainer is mounted to a retainer mounting hole provided to open at an outer face of a housing, and the retainer is made to be able to move between a partial locking position at which a drawout preventing portion thereof is escaped from a cavity to permit to insert and draw the terminal metal piece and a full locking position at which the drawout preventing portion invades inside of the cavity to be locked by the terminal metal piece skewedly to a direction of inserting and drawing the terminal metal piece.
However, a direction of moving the above-described retainer is skewed to the direction of inserting and drawing the terminal metal piece and therefore, at the partial locking position at which the retainer is moved back, a predetermined gap is opened between a front edge of the retainer and a front edge of the retainer mounting hole and there is a concern of penetrating of an outside foreign object therefrom to inside of the cavity.
In the above-described connector, when it is requested to carry out so-called inner-die assembly in which, for example, the housing and the retainer are molded by a resin in the same die and when the die is opened, the retainer is mounted to the housing at the partial locking position at inside of the die, it is necessary to mold the retainer mounting hole by a sliding die from a direction orthogonal to a direction of mounting the retainer and therefore, the retainer mounting hole is opened in three directions of the mounting direction and two side directions orthogonal to the mounting direction. Furthermore, when the terminal metal pieces inserted into the cavities at two upper and lower stages is intended to prevent from being drawn out by the single retainer, the retainer mounting hole opens the respective cavities in the side directions and therefore, there is a possibility of posing the following problem.
That is, since the direction of moving the retainer is skewed to the direction of inserting and drawing the terminal metal piece, at the moved-back partial locking position, a predetermined gap is opened between a front edge of the retainer and a front edge of the retainer mounting hole. Further, the gap is opened also in the side directions similar to the retainer mounting hole and therefore, the terminal metal pieces inserted into the upper and lower cavities are exposed to outside via the gap and there is a concern of being shortcircuited by an outside foreign object.
In the above-described connector, when it is requested to carry out so-called inner-die assembly in which, for example, the housing and the retainer are molded by a resin in the same die and when the die is opened, the retainer is mounted to the housing at the partial locking position at inside of the die, it is necessary to mold a retainer mounting hole by a sliding die from a direction orthogonal to a direction of mounting the retainer. Therefore, the retainer mounting hole is opened in three directions from a face thereof in the housing opposed to the mounting direction over to a pair of faces along the mounting direction contiguous to each other. Further, the retainer mounting hole is formed up to a depth for opening an inserting path at a rear end of a main body portion in three directions for convenience of making the drawout preventing portion advance to the inserting path of the rear end of the main body portion.
However, when the retainer mounting hole is constituted by a mode of opening in three directions as described above, there is a concern of posing the following problem. That is, when there is brought about a situation in which, for example, the retainer disposed at the full locking position is erroneously returned to a side of the partial locking position, or the retainer is detached from the housing, a region of the inserting path of the rear end of the main body portion on a rear side of a front edge of the retainer mounting hole is opened in three directions. At this occasion, when the terminal metal piece is pulled to a rear side, a terminal metal piece is moved back within a range of a clearance formed between the terminal metal piece and a lance, and at this occasion, there is a concern that the rear end of the main body portion reaches the region on the rear side of the front edge of the retainer mounting hole. When an outside foreign object invades the retainer mounting hole to reach the inserting path of the rear end of the main body portion under the state, the foreign object is brought into contact with the rear end of the main body portion and there is a possibility of short-circuiting the terminal metal pieces contiguous to each other in a width direction.
Therefore, one object of the invention is to prevent a foreign object from penetrating a cavity.
It is another object of the invention to prevent a terminal metal piece from being short-circuited.